Earth Girl Arjuna OST 1

(The second OST is Onna no Minato)
Title: ARJUNA into the another world
Code: VICL-60703
Produced by: Yoko Kanno
Producer: Victor Entertainment
Price: ¥2900-¥3045 (at release)
Release date: March 23, 2001
Length: 66 minutes, 55 seconds

Track info:

1. Early Bird - Vocals: Chinatsu Yamamoto - 2:09
2. Kakusei/Awakening - 3:51
3. Cloe (Close) - Vocals: Chinatsu Yamamoto - 3:19
4. Time to Die - 2:51
5. 2nd Life - 3:05
6. Diving - Vocals: Gabriela Robin - 2:37
7. Clone - 2:05
8. Feel the Circle - 1:36
9. EAROBI/Aerobics - 3:23
10. Omega Blue - Vocals: Gabriela Robin - 2:47
11. Toki no Shizuku/Drop of Time (also seen as Nipponia Nippon Dripping - 0:51
12. Chikyuu Kyoumei/Earth Resonance - 1:57
13. Yogensha/Prophecy - 4:07
14. Before Breakfast - 1:15
15. Bells for Her - 2:02
16. Bike - Vocals: Maaya Sakamoto - 5:11
17. Diamond - 1:23
18. Mameshiba - Vocals: Maaya Sakamoto - 6:09
19. Kuuki to Hoshi/Air and Star - Vocals: Chinatsu Yamamoto - 1:08
20. Aqua - Vocals: Gabriela Robin - 6:29
21. unlisted track (Mameshiba (instrumental)) - 4:00

Musicians

Piano and Keyboards: Yoko Kanno
Bass and Ethnic Guitars: Hitoshi Watanabe
Drums: Yasuo Sano
Guitars: Tsuneo Imahori
Percussion, Voice, Ethnic Guitar: Masaharu Sato
Percussion: Mataro Misawa
Irish Flute: Hideyo Takakuwa
Horn: Otohiko Fujita Group
Strings: Shinozaki Group, Joe Kato Group, Gavyn Wright Strings (in London)
Synthesizer manipulating: Keishi Urala Assisted by Seiichi Takubo, Syunsuke Sakamoto

CD Case details

The unique front cover of the CD features a red-tinted picture of a dog running down what seems to be an asphalt road with trees. The dog's mouth, eyes, and feet are highlighted with tinted circles, colored green, yellow, blue, white and pink. The back cover, slightly more conventional, features an artist's colored sketch of Juna barefoot against a white background. She is sprinting away from the viewpoint, seemingly ready to transform into the Avatar of Time (her hair is colored pink). The tracklist is to the left of the sketch, with some titles in English, others in kanji, and some in both. Only 20 tracks are listed, the last being an instrumental version of Mameshiba.

Music

Here I will only go into the music itself--writeups about scenes in which the music plays (which could include spoilers) should go under the track titles' nodes. I'll credit anyone in this writeup who gives me a better summary of these songs.
Note: Most all of these songs which contain lyrics are sung in a language of Yoko Kanno's invention. This is not new to those who have listened to other Kanno soundtracks such as Cowboy Bebop, however it can be strange to listen to at first. Most people I know like it after they get used to it. Just don't expect it to make sense.

Early Bird - an enchanting vocal piece which at first seems to convey the feeling of morning, sun rising over dew, but turns to a darker tone and minor key as the voice cuts out, and synthetic chords play, and a chorus gently chants one phrase. A very good opening. Compares with "Green Bird" from Cowboy Bebop, but darker and with a singular voice.
Awakening - a long song with percussion, strings and chorus. Somewhat dark and foreboding, but progresses at a good pace, building up to a controlled frenzy, before it repeats itself, hits the same point, and turns quieter, and more disjointed for a minute or two. Finally (I said it was a long song) the chorus comes back in and the song ends.
Cloe - begins with a metronomic plucking melody, soon accompanied by happy lyrics which continue throughout. Later, strings come in to enrich the song with their harmony. This song just sounds ethereal and friendly.
Time to Die - the first minute unfolds slowly, with a bass chord laying the groundwork for a minor melodic line. You can tell, even before any vocals or melody to speak of comes in, that this is a dark song. and then the chorus sings, their voice oozing from one pitch to the next. After that comes a fast percussion beat, leading into the real melody, and a bass guitar repeating a chant-like progression over and over until the song ends suddenly.
2nd life - a soft, lilting guitar opens this song, and a whispered voice enters soon after, along with a hopeful-sounding synthetic instrument. Next a guitar strums out the main melody along with percussion accompaniment.
Diving - a gypsy-sounding chorus opens this song, accompanied by a guitar. next, a percussion entrance and then a quick strumming banjo or guitar dances from one range of pitches to the next. Then the chorus comes back in to conclude the song.
Clone - clapping and a chanted melody opens this song at a quick beat. another voice comes in in harmony and percussion enhances the chanting. Then the beat cuts out and a whispered chant begins anew at the same tempo. It slowly builds up, along with percussion and a synthetic background melody, to a shouted conclusion.
Feel the Circle - a gentle xylophone harmony and a melody of high-pitched violins open this song. Other harmony lines of violins come in and the song ends with a plucked beat.
Aerobics - opens with a synthetic discordant melody, which gives way to a guitar riff, which is accompanied by strong percussion, in a western rock feel, suddenly softening and carrying the softer guitar beat to the conclusion. Kanno shows her ability to create diverse music with this one, which doesn't seem to fit in with any other ones on the album. Compares favorably to "LIVE in Baghdad" from Cowboy Bebop OST 2: No Disc, but less hard metal feel.
Omega Blue - opens with an ethereal melody, accompanied by a single voice, which is soon joined by violins and synthetic-sounding percussion.
Drop of Time - A choral piece, which I'm not particularly fond of. Very short.
Earth Resonance - Quick beat, a bouncing melody and a purposeful tone. Vocal accompaniment which is chant-like at times, and violins carry the melody towards the end.
Prophet - Sustaining, determined vocals characterize this song. Solid percussion and violin melody (violins seem to be in almost every song on this disc...) also lend feeling.
Before Breakfast - A traditional Irish-sounding song, with a fiddle and flute delivering the melody.
Bells for Her - A soft, slow piece, sounds somewhat sad but gradually builds into a romantic orchestral piece. A cello and piano make up melody and harmony at first, but a violin comes in at the end as well.
Bike - A light vocal piece whose background gives the feeling of motion.
Diamond - Gentle piano solo.
Mameshiba - Happy guitar and vocals. This song is played during most episode endings, and other versions of it play in several moments in the series.
Air and Star - A lilting vocal piece, shares lyrics with "Early Bird" but does not seem to possess the same direction.
Aqua Aqua - Feels like a slow trance song. Has soft, stringing vocals which build up to a higher key in two points in the song. Background harmony is put together very well, and conveys a mysterious atmosphere.
Mameshiba (instrumental) - Nice soft piano piece with (what else?) violins.

For more information:

http://www.hatsuyume.net/users/arjuna/ - a nice, artistic site with plenty of information and pictures.
Anime lyrics page: http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/arjuna/
OST 1: Into the Another World: http://www.maayasakamoto.net/cds/arjuna1.html
OST 2: Onna no Minato: http://www.maayasakamoto.net/cds/arjuna2.html